Soldiers and robots? Truth behind Australia’s best-behaved school as behaviour curriculum lifts NAPLAN results

A “strict” headmistress who has transformed her Western Sydney state school into one of the most well-mannered in Australia has revealed why she believes any school can adopt her successful measures.

• Kids to be taught old-school discipline in crackdown

Sitting in her lushly-decorated office as a trio of stray cats she’s rescued roam the halls, Marsden Road Public School principal Manisha Gazula cuts a surprising figure for a woman characterised as a disciplinarian.

Under Mrs Gazula’s nine-year tenure, the Liverpool primary school has become the blueprint for Australia’s new ‘behaviour curriculum’; a textbook example of a school where discipline and high expectations for students’ behaviour has translated into academic success.

Walking two-by-two, children cross the playground in near-total silence when moving from the classroom to the library and back. All workbooks are identical, bound in colour-coded sheets by teachers during school holiday and personalised only by a student’s name and the writing within.

Margins must be kept neat and regular, and graffiti is a no-no. Students must knock and be given permission to enter a classroom before sitting down quietly, and school uniforms are expected to be exactly that – uniform.

For some parents (and teachers) ‘The Marsden Way’ appears militaristic. Others outside the school community view it as a throwback to the ‘good old days’ when kids were seen and not heard. Both interpretations are misconstrued, Mrs Gazula says.

Marsden Road Public School teacher Manisha Gazula with Year 6 students (from left) Teodor Stanic, Reem Jabbado, Ethan Born and Ellie Georgiou. Picture: David Swift

“They imagine it is some kind of school where children are walking like soldiers or robots with no emotions, and doing things without thinking, (and that) is not what it is,” she said.

“Basically, we are teaching our students how to be good citizens and have good work ethics.

“The kids are not robots, they’re just behaving sensibly.”

From Kindergarten to Year 6, all student walk to and from class in neat, silent lines with their teacher at the back. Picture: David Swift

From the day they start Kindergarten, students are proactively taught manners – how to walk in lines, how to make a request at the school office, and how to address an adult.

And it’s not just the kids who have rules to follow – parents are expected to have their children arrive punctually before 8:57am each day, and by breaking down the entire NSW primary school syllabus into term-by-term chunks, Mrs Gazula has standardised the teaching, too.

Ellie Geogiou, 11, raises her hand in class to ask a question. Student must be called upon by their teacher before they can speak. Picture: David Swift

Year 6 student Joshua Eljiz knows he must politely knock on a door before entering a room – quietly. Picture: David Swift

“There’s consistency, there’s clarity. The teachers in Year 4 know what has been covered in Kindergarten to year three, and there’s … no ambiguity,” she said.

“Our systems and structures that many people may think … are rigid actually support the curriculum implementation.”

Year 6 students Josh, who has attended Marsden Road PS since Kindergarten, and Haadi, who previously attended another public school further south, both backed their principal’s vision.

“At (my previous school) there were a lot of bullies, but in this school everyone’s kind and nice, and everyone asks – if you’re lonely – to come and play,” Haadi said.

“(The rules) are really easy to follow – you just have to learn it.”

“Later in life we’re going to need all these skills,” Josh added.

At MRPS, every student works out of identical exercise books, colour-coded according to subject and grade. Picture: David Swift

Love them or loathe them, Mrs Gazula’s methods generate impressive academic outcomes for students, and she’s got the NAPLAN results to prove it. Four in five of her students are from non-English speaking backgrounds but twice as many achieve top marks in writing than the state average.

In 2016, only 12.8 per cent of Marsden Road students achieved top marks in reading, increasing to over a third by 2022.

“Everyone loves structure. Everyone loves routine, everyone loves a system, because it keeps them safe. What confuses and scares children is ambiguity and not knowing what to expect,” she said.

“There’s no two doubts in my mind that (The Marsden Way) can be replicated at any other school.”

Originally published as Soldiers and robots? Truth behind Australia’s best-behaved school as behaviour curriculum lifts NAPLAN results